By Selen Tonkus and Abdelmoneim Haikal
ANKARA
Greek Cypriot natural gas talks with British Gas Egypt on Monday might further provoke Turkey, who is against the island's gas sales before a political solution is reached.
Greek Cypriot national energy firm Cyprus Hydrocarbons Company, CHC, held a meeting Monday in Nicosia with British Gas Egypt to meet Egypt's natural gas needs.
Egypt is facing an energy crisis and has witnessed severe power cuts in the summer, hitting industry and raising public discontent. The country needs to import more gas but has yet to develop the required infrastructure to import Liquefied Natural Gas, LNG.
Greek Cypriot media quoted the head of the CHC, Toula Onoufriou, commenting that the meeting was a “milestone” and that contacts with BG Egypt would continue with the aim of further exploring technical, economic, legal and geopolitical aspects in more detail.
The conflict between Turkish and Greek Cypriots on the island continues over the ownership of the hydrocarbon reserves in the exclusive economic zones off the shore of the island.
Greek Cyprus efforts to sell hydrocarbons and boost exploration and production activities are likely to further provoke Turkey, which has said it will not accept such attempts unless a peace agreement is reached in the divided island.
A BG Group spokesperson declined to comment on any commercial discussions. However, he told Anadolu Agency that the “BG Group, along with the Egyptian government and third parties, will continue to investigate options for increasing the supply of natural gas to the country.”
“More generally, we constantly engage with governments around the world on a range of matters,” the spokesperson added.
Greek Cypriots are in the early stages of their hydrocarbon exploration program, said Gary Lakes, Director at Energy Program, European Rim Policy and Investment Council, based in Nicosia.
"We probably will not really know what sort of hydrocarbon potential we have for another year," Lakes said.
He noted the government is examining all possibilities to monetize the gas including onshore Liquefied Natural Gas plants, floating LNG plants, compressed natural gas plants and pipelines.
Lakes also stated that the Greek Cypriot government had stated on numerous occasions that any revenues earned from hydrocarbon exports will be shared proportionately between the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot communities once there is a settlement.
"I have had the foreign minister here tell me personally that Cyprus does not object to building a pipeline directly to Turkey to provide it with natural gas, but there has to be a political settlement for this to happen," Lakes added.
Turkey is against unilateral steps to sell Cyprus gas by the Greek administration, said Ayla Gurel, a senior research consultant at PRIO Cyprus Centre based in Nicosia, adding that the Turkish government might react to the BG-CHC talks.
"This also might be seen as a solidarity move between Greek Cypriots and Egypt." Gurel said.
Turkey has sent its seismic ship, Barbaros Hayreddin Pasha to Southern Cyprus along with military guards last week. Southern Cyprus says the energy resources off their coast are in their possession whereas Turkey insists that the hydrocarbons belong to the island as a whole.
On Tuesday, Turkey’s Prime Minister Davutoglu also commented on the conflict over the island, and said that Turkey is allowed to make seismic searches in consideration of the agreements with Northern Cyprus on Tuesday. He also said they want to resolve the conflict and promote peace in the Cypriot Island.
www.aa.com.tr/en
